Fire On Ice
by CUtopia
Summary: Figure Skating!AU - Katie and her new partner Marcus are giving their coach a hard time. Will they eventually stop bickering and work together?


Entry for the _Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition_ Round 11 – Wigtown Wanderers vs Chudley Cannons

 ** **Task:**** Figure Skating!AU

Your story MUST also start and finish with the same word.

Entry for the _Greek Mythology Competition_

 **Aphrodite:** Write a romance fic

Entry for the _Chocolate Frog Card Club_

(Silver) Katie Bell; **Challenge:** Write about Katie Bell.

Entry for the _Last Ship Sailing Competition_

Prompts

(Word) shimmering

(Action) forgetting someone's name

(Word) loud

(Dialogue) "Have you heard the news?"

(Color) Tan

Bonus Prompts

(Item) lipstick

(Dialogue) "Just relax."

(Color) Pastel pink

(Emotion) calm

Entry for _Music History_ at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 **Option 1:** Piano Sonata Op. 13 by Beethoven

Explanation: I felt like the change between intense, moody and the sometimes very soft passages fit Katie and Marcus very well; I could also imagine them using some parts of the music for their dances, especially the Adagio cantabile. It's good for soft footwork, the faster parts for lifts and spins.

Entry for the _Gringotts Prompt Bank_

Thanks a lot to Dina, who betaed this for me, and to Liza, who gave me advice! Go Wanderers! :)

(3000 Words)

* * *

 **Fire On Ice**

Cold crept up Katie's bare arms as she stood in the middle of the ice rink, glaring into the direction of her coach and the woman standing next to him. A short look at the clock hanging above their heads told her that the skater she should have met for a tryout today was half an hour late and she was starting to get impatient. She hadn't been too keen on agreeing to the tryout with this particular skater, as she'd heard rumours about him that weren't all too flattering, but her coach had insisted on this meeting.

He'd really had the guts to tell Katie that with her temper, she didn't have a big choice of partners; in the past two weeks alone, she'd scared away three very good potential partners without a good reason. Of course, Katie knew that she had to be more patient and less short-tempered if she wanted someone to stay and dance with her, but she found it hard to change her behaviour.

"Oi, will this guy ever show up? I want to be home for Christmas!" she exclaimed, her voice resounding in the rink.

She didn't care that her coach glared over at her before giving the woman – obviously the coach of her tryout partner – an apologetic smile before answering: "Just relax, Katie. I'm sure he'll be here soon."

Katie rolled her eyes, straightened her Captain America t-shirt and turned around, deciding to skate some laps to get warm again. The blades of her white skates scraped over the ice lightly and she took some deep breaths, feeling how she calmed down internally. If she screwed up another tryout, she would never find a partner in time for Nationals, and that would probably be the end of her career.

After all, she had expectations to fulfill: sponsors that wanted to see notable successes, her parents, the people from the sports scholarship. And of course she herself finally wanted to be a champion as well; she loved this sport, and she loved winning. European Championships, World Championships, the Olympics... she wanted all of them to be inside her reach.

"It's only a dream," she whispered to herself and suddenly heard the loud bang of the doors to the rink being pushed open.

"Oh sorry, am I late?"

Katie's head turned around just in time to spot who had just arrived. A tall young man, maybe three years older than her, stepped onto the ice, a wide, arrogant grin on his face as he skated towards her. He had black, slightly unruly hair, his skin was tan for someone who spent most of his time indoors and he was impressively muscular. Stopping in front of her, he looked down at her and asked: "And who is this lovely creature?"

A part of her wanted to lash out immediately and show him who would be the boss here, but she decided just in time to simply ignore the way his gaze had raked up and down her body.

"Well, you ought to know... it's rude to keep a girl waiting," she answered with a forced smile and crossed her arms in front of her chest, drilling her toe pick deeper into the ice as necessary.

"I'm terribly sorry, your highness," he shot back with a mocking bow. "I'm Marcus."

"Katie," she pressed out, her toes curling in the attempt to bite back some nasty comments. She didn't want this to go down the drain within the first five minutes, and she was thankful when her coach chimed in and thus kept her from losing her composure.

"Alright, that's enough chatter for now! Let's proceed to business."

Straightening her back, Katie bit her lip and took the hand Marcus offered her; side by side, they gained some speed and she was surprised by how synchronised their movements instinctively were. She hadn't expected to be able to skate with him so easily after the way he'd managed to get her blood boiling in their first conversation.

OoO

"Have you heard the news?" a girl whispered to her friend only a few meters away from where Katie was sitting on the floor in a split, stretching. "Her coach forced her to team up with that Flint guy because nobody wants to work with her, and with him either!"

Katie glared over at the girls and just opened her mouth to tell them that she could hear them when the door was ripped open and her coach and Marcus entered the ballet room. Today was their first real practice, and they would start off-ice to work on the basic choreography. Marcus looked down at Katie with a smug grin and wiggled his eyebrows, so Katie hissed: "I see your mouth start moving, and man, I need a drink."

"Oh, come on, I need to make one dirty joke a day. By the way, what was your name again?" Marcus answered, but she simply ignored him as she slowly got out of the split position and directed her attention towards her coach. She'd sworn to herself that she wouldn't respond to things like that.

"Katie, Marcus, stop bickering. Use your head, not your heart."

"My head tells me to tell him to shut up," Katie mumbled, instantly being nudged into the ribs by her new partner.

"Stop it! Basic dance position, we'll try your Short Dance music for the first time."

The coach started the music, a quickstep, and Marcus led her into the rhythm. She hated to admit it, but as arrogant as he was, he was a good dancer; he knew how to lead subtly. Dancing with him felt a lot easier than it had with previous partners.

And despite the constant need to slap Marcus, she found that they matched as dance partners.

OoO

Time marched on, and Katie sometimes felt very sorry for her coach. Marcus and she certainly weren't the easiest pair to coach – interpersonally-wise – and they were giving him a very hard time. They were dancing well, they were practicing technically difficult programs, but they couldn't refrain from fighting with each other.

The first time had been about their Free Dance music choice: Marcus wanted to do something modern and powerful, Katie had voted for something classical, soft, with a little bit of drama. He'd called her choice boring with the argument that it had been used in ice dance a billion times by now, and she'd labelled his suggestions as 'undanceable'.

This had led to them not having a finalised version of their Free Dance yet at all, even though their first competition, Nationals, was coming closer and closer. For Katie, it would be something special; for the first time, she would be competing in her home town of London, and she wanted to shine on this day. She knew that it was wrong to let Marcus feel her frustration about the rather slow progress they were making, but she couldn't help it.

And so he was to blame when their twizzles were not synchronised enough or she nearly fell during one of their rotational lifts.

OoO

"Are you already giving up, Bell?" Marcus groaned in a challenging tone; sweat was running down his temple and his face was red with exhaustion. "You're not bringing it."

"In your dreams, Flint," Katie panted and pushed herself up again, not stopping to stare back at him. "And I swear, if your gaze wanders to my breasts again, I will kill you!"

They must have provided an odd picture; facing each other, they were doing push ups for strength training, but of course had soon turned it into a competition about who could do more.

But it was simply the way they functioned best: challenging each other, pushing each other to become better, to skate cleaner, to put that bit more expression into their dance.

"Here you are! Your costumes just arrived!" Their coach exclaimed as he entered the room and instantly, they both relaxed their muscles, lying flat on the floor in exhaustion.

"I won," Katie whimpered as she shook out her arms, but Marcus only snorted, shaking his head looking over to the two outfits their coach was holding up and immediately, his face fell. Following his gaze, Katie's eyes widened in shock, and she actually pinched herself to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.

"If this is a joke I'm not laughing," she stated dryly and glared at the pieces of clothing.

Marcus nodded next to her, and they both crossed their arms in front of their chests, while Marcus growled: "Me neither."

"You didn't specify any colour choices!" The coach sighed in defeat and looked a little bit sad and tired as he stuffed the pastel pink dress and the matching dress shirt back into the plastic bag. "But I'm glad that you two are having the same opinion for once. I guess I could call that a success."

Katie and Marcus looked at each other for a long moment, and the tiniest of smiles appeared on her face; maybe this could be seen as a good sign. It probably was the first time they'd instinctively agreed on something, and she was surprised that she felt so... good.

"Guys, this is creepy. Please, fight again."

Katie started to giggle and Marcus joined her with a low chuckle, bumping her gently with his shoulder.

OoO

From that point on, everything seemed to work out a lot better between Katie and Marcus. They talked politely with each other during training sessions, even joked around from time to time and with every day that passed, Katie could feel how she relaxed around him more and more. She found that she enjoyed skating with him more than she would have thought and the trust she gave out rather rarely built up. Never before had she felt ready to experiment so early in a partnership, but here they were, two weeks ago from the National Championships, practicing a more difficult lift.

Lifts normally weren't her favourite elements, but Marcus gave her such a feeling of security that she agreed to doing a one-handed handstand on his thigh. She suddenly had no fear of falling anymore, because she knew that he was strong enough to catch her.

OoO

The last two weeks until the National Championships passed faster than she would have thought and her nervousness rose as they had their last practice session before the Short Dance in the venue. Three other pairs were on the ice at the same time, and Katie, losing her concentration from time to time as her head was spinning, nearly crashed into one of the other skaters more than once. Only thanks to Marcus and his anticipation she didn't collide with someone; he always managed to pull her out of the way in time.

Earlier in their still short partnership, he certainly would have made fun of her state of confusion, but she was grateful that he just gave her a supportive smile now and made sure that she was okay before they continued. Maybe she was just too keen to show off their skill; they'd worked hard, and she wanted to prove everyone that they were a good team.

When the session was over and it was time to get ready for the Short Dance, Katie felt a lot better. All skaters left the ice together and one of the women smiled sweetly at Marcus while Katie put on her blade guards and loosened the laces. However, she nearly fell over when the woman suddenly said out aloud: "Marcus, I'm really surprised that you stayed with her. From what you told me, she's a horrible partner. But, well, it's your choice."

Katie straightened her back and stared at the other woman with wide eyes, who gave her a fake surprised look and cooed: "Oh… sorry, Katie. Didn't he tell you that we had a tryout skate two weeks after you teamed up? Oops."

The woman walked away, and Katie turned her head to Marcus, glaring and pressing her hands into her hips. She could feel anger boiling up inside of her, even though she knew that it was irrational; after all, she herself hadn't been too convinced that their partnership would last. But still, it made an odd feeling spread inside of her, something like betrayal, and jealousy.

"Katie… let me explain…" Marcus began, and for the first time, his voice sounded a little bit insecure. Katie raised her hand and gestured for him to say nothing else.

"I'll see you before the warm up," she said with an expressionless voice. Gulping down her anger, she turned and walked away, wanting nothing but to be alone.

OoO

Marcus was there immediately as Katie left the changing room, handing her crimson lipstick, which she'd used to paint her lips a last time, to their coach.

"Katie, let me explain," Marcus breathed, wanting to touch her arm, but she dodged him, crinkling his white dress shirt.

"It's obvious. You didn't believe in our partnership at all."

"Oh, and you did?"

"Guys…," their coach interrupted them, looking annoyed. "Could you please sort this out later? Just concentrate on your Short Dance!"

"That's what I'm planning on doing," Katie growled, smoothing her dark blue dress before she walked towards the entrance to the rink, hearing Marcus sigh in defeat.

Ten minutes later, it showed that neither of them were concentrating; during the required quickstep part of the dance, Katie tripped over her own feet and stumbled visibly, and Marcus too made some mistakes.

Right after their score was announced, Katie disappeared from the venue, not having said a single word to Marcus.

OoO

Marcus took a deep breath as he heard someone walk up the stairs and seconds later, Katie appeared in the staircase below him, stopping as she saw him sit on the top step, right next to the door to her flat.

"What are you doing here?" She asked curtly, openly showing her displeasure as she walked past him and unlocked the door.

"I'm here to explain myself and… and maybe apologise for not telling you about the tryout. But I also want to tell you that it's irrational to be angry with me! After all, you weren't the most pleasant person back then!"

Without being invited, he followed her inside, having no eye for the cosy living room; all that mattered to him right now was that Katie forgave him. He wasn't a person that talked openly about his feelings, but if it was necessary, he would tell her that she was the best partner he'd had in his whole skating career. Marcus didn't want to lose her.

"I probably was," Katie mumbled, throwing her bag onto the couch before turning around and crossing her arms in front of her chest defensively. "But…"

"I know that I should have told you! Yes, I had a tryout with that woman, but it was appointed before we skated together for the first time… we weren't having such a good time interpersonal-wise and I thought that maybe she could be a better partner," Marcus explained breathlessly, determined to finish his speech before she could open her mouth. "I should have been honest with you, I know. But I swear, if you end this partnership just because I'm an idiot…"

"I forgive you," Katie sighed, raising her hands. "I better accept your apology before you suffocate. And yes, you're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot," Marcus grinned and pulled her into a hug, relief flooding him as she pressed a kiss onto his cheek. Suddenly, she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked him deeply into the eyes. Marcus didn't know what was driving him, but suddenly, he was kissing her soft lips, his arms slung tightly around her slender body.

It felt so right, so good… and she was kissing him back, even deepening the kiss and made him feel dizzy.

Before he knew it, he was lifting her off her feet and carried her into her bedroom, their fingers desperately searching for bare skin.

OoO

Katie's heart was beating fast in her chest as she heard the announcer call out her and Marcus' names and they stepped onto the ice in the spotlight, waving proudly as they skated towards the podium hand in hand.

 _With deep breaths, Katie pressed her back against Marcus', turning with him as the music started to play. Upon the first tunes, they were in character, but she felt like Marcus roar of frustration was real - a manifestation of everything they'd been through._

Stepping onto the podium, even though they hadn't won gold because of the errors in their Short Dance, felt absolutely wonderful. Her bright smile never left her lips as they applauded for the new National Champions.

 _Katie's black, shimmering dress wafted around her legs as they danced in perfect unison and with powerful expressions. It was as if the music had been composed only for them; passionate and aggressive while still soft._

Marcus slung one arm around Katie's shoulder after they received their silver medals and the flowers, proudly looking down at the item. The hard work had paid off, and they were both glad that they had gone down the difficult path together; their partnership had started very rocky, but it had been worth it.

 _They didn't wobble once; every emphasis was placed perfectly and their impressive handstand lift worked out so well that the audience gasped. Whenever they could, they held eye contact, creating an intimate atmosphere by bringing the passion of their previous night into the dance._

During the victory lap, Katie and Marcus looked at each other for a long moment between posing for photos, unaware of the photographers all around them. In this moment, they promised each other that this would only be the beginning of something great. And they knew that together, the ice wouldn't feel so cold.

* * *

The programs that Katie and Marcus skated in competition in my imagination:

Short Dance - Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte 2014 Short Dance (42nd Street)

Free Dance - Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir 2013 Free Dance (Carmen Ballet Suite)


End file.
